


Benny the  Boulder

by fractionallyfoxtrot



Series: Cabin Crew Riot [2]
Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Gen, Ocean, Phobias, Rocks as coping devices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-08
Updated: 2014-06-08
Packaged: 2018-02-03 21:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1756907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fractionallyfoxtrot/pseuds/fractionallyfoxtrot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur's latest attempt at managing his fear of the ocean isn't going to fly with Martin. Literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Benny the  Boulder

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Prompt Six of the October 2012 Cabin Crew Riot: [Phobias](http://cabincrewriot.tumblr.com/post/32970093757/phobias-for-this-prompt-youll-be-exploring-a) (sub-prompt: Thalassophobia, fear of being in the ocean).

“No.”

“But, chaps-”

“Arthur, no.”

“I thought I could-”

“Absolutely not.”

“But I’ve taken them before!” Arthur shouted quickly before he could be interrupted.

“Yes, but they’ve never been this large before!” Martin exclaimed, gesturing at the – there was no other word for it - _boulder_ with both hands.

Arthur put a protective hand on the worn surface of the rock. Benny, as Arthur had informed them it was called, almost came up to his waist. It was a medium grey, fairly smooth, and only about a third of its base fit onto the hand truck Arthur had pushed it up on. He’d brought it right up to GERTI’s airstairs and asked for Martin and Douglas’ help to get it into the cabin, leading to the stand off they were currently engaged in.

“Why is this one so much larger than the others, Arthur?” Douglas asked.

“Well, chaps, you know that flying over the ocean makes me really nervous.” Arthur visibly tensed at the mere mention of the ocean. He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out two much more reasonably sized rocks. Arthur spoke more to the rocks than to Martin and Douglas as he continued. “And you know that it makes me feel better to hold a rock in my hand when we do. It... reminds me of the ground and then the ocean doesn’t seem so scary anymore,” he shrugged.

Arthur looked up at the pilots, taking a deep breath as his face slowly brightened to its usual luminance. He held out a hand with both rocks in it.

“Well, I thought that if a pebble like Pete,” Arthur indicated the smaller of the two rocks, “makes me feel a little better and a stone like Sam,” Arthur pointed to the other, “makes me feel a lot better, then a boulder like Benny is bound to make me feel loads better!”

“There is some sense to that argument,” Douglas mused.

Martin shot Douglas a disapproving look as he shook his head. He approached Arthur, who had put his hand back on the boulder tied to a hand truck with bungee cords.

“Arthur,” Martin said gently, “you know that Douglas and I are always willing to help you deal with your fear of the ocean. It’s good that you’ve found something that can help you on flights but you can’t bring that into the cabin.”

“Why not?” Arthur asked. “It’s a cargo flight; there won’t be any passengers.”

“It’s unsafe to have a loose boulder rolling around the cabin.”

“I can tie him down!”

“To what?” Martin questioned. “It doesn’t fit into the seats.”

“I, I don’t know yet but I’ll tie him to something!”

“Arthur-”

“Please, Skip?” Arthur pleaded.

Martin sighed. “How about the hold?”

“I won’t be able to reach him in the hold,” Arthur pointed out.

“You could sit in the hold,” Douglas mumbled.

“Douglas,” Martin scolded. “Arthur, I know you want to be able to touch it but I simply cannot allow you to bring it into the cabin. Either you put it in the hold or you don’t bring it at all.” Arthur’s face fell causing Martin to step forward and put hand on his shoulder. “Look at it this way, Arthur. Where do you put your luggage on passenger flights?”

“In the hold,” he answered.

“Do you know it’s there while we’re in the air? Do you know it’ll be there for you when we land?”

Arthur’s brow knit in thought before he nodded.

“It’ll be just like that with Benny,” Martin reasoned, using the rock’s name to appeal to Arthur’s way of thinking. “Even if you can’t see it or touch it, you know that it’ll be in the hold, underneath your feet for the whole flight and it’ll be right there when you open the hold when we land. Plus you’ll have Pete and Sam with you the whole time.” Martin smiled encouragingly and asked, “What do you say?”

“I suppose the hold’s all right,” Arthur conceded.

“Good. Go load it in there so we can get ready for take off.”

“Righto, Skip!”

Martin ran a hand through his hair as he and Douglas watched Arthur wheel the boulder back to the rear of the plane.

“Smart move,” Douglas said with a little nod.

“You think so?”

“Oh, not you. I meant Arthur.”

“Arthur?” Martin asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, Arthur doesn’t like it when we fly over the ocean,” Douglas said, stating the obvious.

“And?” Martin prompted.

Douglas gestured to where Arthur was struggling to push the hand truck up the ramp into the hold.

“If he ever shows up with anything larger than Benny, we won’t be able to.”


End file.
